TUDO DOIS is a photo essay examining the social landscape shaped by Rio de Janeiro's Comando Vermelho (CV). It moves between the favelas under the gang's control and the Gericinó Penitentiary Complex (Bangu) to trace lives connected by systems of power, confinement, and belonging. Rejecting spectacle and moral certainty, TUDO DOIS explores how violence becomes embedded in everyday life, revealing the porous boundaries between community, survival, and the parallel forms of governance that emerge where the state's presence recedes.
Overview of Santo Amaro, a CV controlled favela.
By 'tudo dois' they mean it's all good, alright, it translates directly to 'all two' as in ✌️, the hand signal also forms a V of Vermelho.
Paintings on a jail wall, in the center you read a CV scratched tag.
‘Dentinho’ is on lookout at a high point in the favela he lives in and sends information via radio on who is coming in or out.
A member of Comando Vermelho (Red Command) poses for a photo in one of their bases in a favela. Comando Vermelho was founded in 1979 in a prison in the countryside of Rio de Janeiro, when drug dealers were arrested with political prisoners from the dictatorship. At the time their main goal was to use profits from drug dealing to finance escapes and to better the living situation of the brothers in jail.
Recently, in May 2026, Trump’s government included the gang in the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. The measure expands the scope of U.S. counter-terrorism agencies' operations and shifts the classification of CV away from mere drug trafficking and organized crime. Under this measure, they will instead be subject to U.S. policies targeting terrorism.
CV members packing up bricks to take to other selling spots within this favela.
Overview of Morro dos Prazeres, a neighboring favela also controlled by CV. ‘FT’ (holding the rifle) left the gang for a while to try to make it as a hip hop MC, after not being able to make ends meet he took his spot at CV back.
CV rifle with a ‘peace’ sticker.
Entrance of the prison where CV members are incarcerated in Rio de Janeiro. A whole wing of Gericinó Penitentiary Complex (Bangu) is dedicated to hold CV members.
It’s common to find lots of cats in prisons because they help to deal with the rat infestation problem.
A man exercises using makeshift equipment on the Evangelical Hallway in Bangu.
Dwellers of a favela called ‘Chupa Cabra’ gather outside during a hot summer day.
People who live in a CV controlled area often are left without any presence of the state, and every issue is dealt with by the gang’s boss in the area.
Couch on a CV controlled trap house. The tag ‘CVRL’ means Comando Vermelho (Red Command) Rogério Lemgruber (bank robber, murderer, kidnaper, drug trafficker and CV founder).
Man smokes crack in a CV controlled trap house.
‘AK’ 12 gauge shotgun, AR-10 7.62 and the infamous hand signal.
‘Bangu’ triage cell for the inmates who are waiting for trial or haven’t been placed in a permanent pavilion yet.
An inmate shows his leg wounds, sustained in the circumstances of his arrest.
Chico is a member of Comando Vermelho in Rio de Janeiro, he left the gang for a while, but after BOPE (Brazilian special ops) shot and then proceeded to point-blank execute his twin brother he decide to join back the gang and fight for vengeance until ‘God tells him to stop’.
Cell for 2 in Bangu prison, on the left of the image a bag is used to collect dripping water.
Apart from selling drugs, CV also installs slot machines in their crack houses.
Members of Comando Vermelho cut a brick of weed into 5 Reais (1 Dollar) bags.
More cats in ‘Bangu’ cells.
Honda XRE 300cc and a Para-FAL riffle.
Day to day communication is made via undisclosed radio frequency.
Another triage cell in ‘Bangu’.
Soccer field at night in favela Parque União.
Baile funk parties are organized by gang members as a way to promote local DJs and MCs, but also to sell drugs to large crowds from the whole city who gather during such events.
Just do it.
Addicts are allowed to live and make small wooden rooms inside CV trap houses.
Interior of a trap house.
Silver Mini Uzi.
‘Cirilo’ was an orphan who found in CV a sense of community and family, a year after this photo was taken he got killed by police during an incursion in his favela.
Smoke coming from a bus set on fire by CV members after one of their high ranking members in Morro dos Prazeres was killed during a police operation.
Car burned during a police raid in a favela controlled by CV.
Crack wrapped in steel wool is smoked through a piece of an antenna.
Police special force truck coming out of a favela controlled by CV after an incursion.
Corpses of CV members killed during a police raid in Complexo da Penha are carried out of the favela.
Sheet used to cover bodies of CV soldiers killed during a conflict with the police.